Full of mystique and grandeur, history and beauty, Montecito, approximately eight square miles of hidden neighborhoods and expansive estates, has been the destination of choice for celebrities and millionaires for over one hundred years.

Today, Montecito offers many and varied options for residential living, such as an easy-care condominium just steps from the beach, a hidden cottage down a tree-shaded lane, as well as large estates on many acres, both old and new.

The pace of life here is unhurried, and it is easy to see why Montecito has become a desirable second home location for big city dwellers. Whether you're a famous movie star or a curious traveler, you'll find Montecito to be truly a lush paradise.

Prices range from $1,500,000 to $50,000,000

Montecito History

During the Hispanic era, 1782-1846, the soldiers of the presidio fell as much as twenty years behind in their salaries.  Hence, to compensate soldiers reaching retirement age, free parcels of the "Santa Barbara Pueblo Lands" were awarded them.   These lands, granted by the King of Spain for the support of Santa Barbara, extended from Tucker's Grove to the Rincon, between the foothills and the beach.  Most of the soldiers chose 50-acres plots in what became known as "Old Spanish Town," starting on the west where Hot Springs and Cold Springs join to form Mission Creek, and extending along East Valley Road, then an ox-cart trail, as far as today's Montecito Village.

Montecito was thus founded by some of Santa Barbara's "first families," bearing such proud names as Jaurez, Romero, Olivas, Robles, Dominguez, Lopez and Lorenzana.  Many of their descendants still live on land owned by their forebears nearly 200 years ago.

In 1857 East Valley Catholics joined with workmen from San Ysidro Ranch to build an adobe chapel on the Jaurez property at 53 East Valley Road.  Known as Carmelo Mission, it served until a wooded church was built in 1898, the predecessor to the spectacular modern edifice of 1936, Our Lady of Mount Carmel Church, built as a pueblo.

Montecito's first public school was built in 1858 on land given by Nemecio Dominguez.  There was no money for a roof, so the school children studied that first winter with the blue sky overhead.

Josiah Doulton, scion of the royal chinaware family, bought 20 acres on the Montecito waterfront.  He named his place "Ocean View".  When hard times forced his wife to take in boarders, the place became popular with tourists and the name was changed to the Spanish "Miramar"- the forerunner of today's far-famed Miramar Hotel and Convention Center.  Its neighbor, the Biltmore Hotel, came on the scene in 1927.

 Two pioneer brothers, George and Fred Gould, planted olive groves along a "trail to the beach" which was named Olive Mill Road after the Goulds built a stone olive mill in 1893.  The mill, "El Molino," is now the home of actress Lena Horne at 200 Olive Mill Road.

More and more wealthy people, drawn to Santa Barbara when it was in its heyday as a fashionable health resort, began establishing luxurious private estates in Montecito during the '90s.  This trickle became a flood after the Potter Hotel opened in 1902, luring such ultra-rich names as Rockefeller, Carnegie, Fleischmann, Cudahy, DuPont, Swift, McCormick, Bliss and others.  Many of them fell in love with the area's incomparable scenery and climate and began developing fabulous estates in suburban Montecito, ranging in size from 30 to 200 acres.  The ruling echelons of the millionaire migration were dubbed "The Hill Barons" because their palatial mansions occupied hilltops overlooking Montecito's beautiful woodlands. 

America's foremost architects, including the likes of George Washington Smith (whose home at 240 Middle Road, the first of over 30 he built in Montecito, still stands); Francis T. Underhill, Bertram G. Goodhue and Frank Lloyd Wright were erecting English manor house, Normandy castles, Italian palazzos, Cape Cod Colonials and incredible marble palaces a the end of tree-lines lanes.

In 1930 Harold G. Chase, a noted realtor, published a roster of over 200 "major" estates.  Among them were McComick's "Riven Rock," Hammond's "Bonnymede," Bothin's "Piranhurst," Ghana-Walska's "Lotusland," Bliss's "Casa Dorinda,"  Ludington's "Val Verde," and countless more. 

In 1929 the State Legislature passed a Planning and Enabling Act to protect communities like Montecito from ruination by over-development.  Montecito residents, led by John A. Jameson, John D. Wright, Dr. Rexwald Brown and Swight Murphy, pushed for and got a county zoning ordinance, the first such in California history, enabling Montecito to restrict lot sizes to the present average  of eight acres, non being below one acre.  Lot splits are rigidly controlled.  Wherever possible, utilities are kept under ground.

Montecito Trails Foundation
Since 1964 the Montecito Trails Foundation (MTF) has worked to preserve, maintain, expand, and record trails within areas of Montecito, Summerland, & Carpinteria, California while being an advocate for trails and open spaces countywide.   For more information about the Montecito Trails Foundation visit www.montecitotrailsfoundation.org


Demographics

Population                                                      Montecito                   Nationwide
                                                                                 10,000                            301 Million

Race/ethnicity   
White                                                                     94.0%                                75.0%
Black                                                                      0.5%                                   12.3%
Asian                                                                     1.3%                                    3.6%
Other                                                                     4.2%                                    9.1%

Sex
Male                                                                       45.9%                                  49.1%   
Female                                                                  54.1%                                   50.9%

Median Age                                                     45.9                                      35.3
Under 5 years                                                    3.3 %                                    6.8% 
18 years & over                                                 81.6%                                   74.3%
65 years & over                                                 21.5%                                   12.4%    

Highest Education (25 & older)
High School graduate or higher                 96.1%                                   80.4%
Bachelor's degree or higher                         63.5%                                   24.4%

Source: US Census 2000

                                                               Montecito      Nationwide

Total housing units               4193
Owner-occupied                             77.8%                 66.2%                                                       
Renter-occupied                             22.2%                 33.8% 
Average household size               2.4%                    2.6%
Median Price of Home                  $2.8K                 $216,000


Income
Median family income                 $159,633          $65,093
Per capita income                          $75,940           $29,136
Annual income needed                $499,000
to afford a median-priced
home in Montecito.

Source: California Economic Forecast, and Claritas, Inc.